An Exclusive Interview with Kimberley Nixon on Empowering Underrepresented Voices

When it comes to venture capital, few figures stand out as boldly as Kimberley Nixon. As the Managing Partner at Open Venture Capital, Nixon is more than just a seasoned investor and startup advisor—she is a trailblazer committed to transforming the landscape of finance and entrepreneurship. With a passion for amplifying underrepresented voices, particularly women and women of color, Nixon’s influence is palpable. Her initiatives, like the Open Venture Fund, which is on track to fund 50 women by the end of May, underscore her dedication to creating opportunities where they are most needed.

Nixon’s expertise extends far beyond the boardroom. Her work with major brands such as Headspace and Underarmour showcases her ability to navigate the complex terrains of digital transformation and market strategy. But what truly sets her apart is her innovative approach to investment, challenging traditional norms by emphasizing the importance of inclusivity and diversity. One of her latest ventures, the “Meet the Athlete” docuseries, produced in collaboration with Ron “Boss” Everline, is a testament to her visionary thinking. By connecting athletes with startups, Nixon is not only empowering them as strategic investors but also reshaping how we view the intersections of sports, entrepreneurship, and finance.

In this exclusive interview with PVM Magazine, Kimberley Nixon opens up about her journey, her commitment to supporting underrepresented entrepreneurs, and the exciting projects that lie ahead.

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Can you tell us about your journey into the world of venture capital and what inspired you to focus on empowering underrepresented voices in finance and entrepreneurship?

I am an operator turned VC. I spent the latter part of my career as an executive at PE and VC-backed companies. I would often look across the table during our board meetings where I was fervently defending a budget, sales plan,  or marketing strategy and would often leave those rooms frustrated that so many of these decisions were being left in the hands of an investor that had less domain expertise than me.

It was during these moments that I came to understand that my operator background was a strength that could be leveraged to support early-stage companies where the gap between what they can afford to pay an executive and the expertise that they need from said executive is usually the widest. I started the Open Venture Capital Studio model to work specifically with underrepresented founders to bridge that gap.

Eventually, this work led to open a venture capital fund. We focus on early-stage sports, health, and wellness-focused companies across all business models.

In your work at Open Venture Capital, what strategies have you found most effective in increasing access to investment opportunities for women, particularly women of color?

As a fund manager, you’re only able to find a small percentage of the number of deals that come across your desk. I think it is important to be an ecosystem builder. I have shared with many founders that while I won’t be able to move forward with a check, I want to stay connected, make introductions, invite them to events, highlight and showcase their products, or provide advice and guidance. I know founders get weary of hearing this type of information because what they really need is cash. But, we are putting in the work to make this ecosystem incredibly valuable. 

I do this through three channels: 

1. My work as a VC in residence at Techstars LA gives me an opportunity to refer founders to Techstars, or mentor founders before and during the program. 

2. We recently launched a content series called Meet the Athlete, produced by advisor, Ron “Boss” Everline and in partnership with Hartbeat Ventures. It’s a really unique opportunity to get brands in front of athletes. The athlete can choose a company to advise for a short-term period. If the founder and athlete want to continue to work together from there, Boss and I will help structure conversations for the founder and the athlete regarding future partnerships, whether that be cash, equity, or some other arrangement. 

3. Open Venture Capital holds quarterly wellness events, with no specific goals/agenda other than highlighting brands in the health and wellness space. We’ve done events in partnership with our portfolio companies and with friends of the brand. Brands we have worked with to date include Break Sports, round21, Speir Pilates, HanaHana Beauty, and Open.

Your approach emphasizes the involvement of individual high-net-worth investors and non-institutional investors. Why do you believe this is critical for the future of inclusive investment?

I wanted to make room in this first fund for individual investors who perhaps didn’t have as much insight or understanding of how venture capital works. I wanted to be able to accept smaller checks, provide greater lead time, and build more education as necessary. This was an initiative that I made available to all individual investors, but I made a goal to attract 50 black women as investors to this fund. That is because I believe intentionality is key, but it’s also just a good marketing strategy to know who exactly you’re going after and what messaging you need in order to attract that party. We will reach our goal of 50 black women LPs by the end of August.

Traditionally, fund managers will look for larger checks first because attracting any LP to your fund is time-consuming; thus the payoff is greater with larger commitment amounts. I felt it was critical to do this work now, while I could dedicate the time to this effort – because the payoff for me is about the community we can create and the opportunity for the network effect in my future funds. 

Imagine if every black woman LP in this fund feels secure about their investment, has conviction in my approach, and introduces me to another black woman for my fund. The opportunity to grow through this approach lends itself to greater inclusivity via a community-first model that I believe will have a long-lasting impact.

How do you ensure that the companies and entrepreneurs you support are not only diverse but also well-positioned for success in a competitive market?

Our approach to open venture capital is unique in that we are studying the market first. As an operator turned VC, this is an approach often used when building products. I am studying the data, speaking with experts,  running consumer insights studies, noticing behavioral change amongst consumers, and building a list of growth areas within health and wellness that I’d like to invest in. Only after establishing these growth drivers am I then looking for founders we’re building in these areas.  

I believe we attract a diverse bench of founders because we are not pattern-matching to identify founders who look like or have the same experience as previous successful founders. We are focused on how well our founders know their audience and what unique competitive advantage they have specifically around their go-to-market approach. We are open (hence our name) to uncovering this with founders, very often having months-long discussions before we write a check. We are a safe space for exploration, discovery, hard questions, and vulnerable answers. This may resonate with underrepresented founders more, but to be clear, we’re taking this approach with all of the founders.

What advice would you give to aspiring female entrepreneurs looking to secure funding in a traditionally male-dominated industry?

My advice in this space is the same for an underdog in any situation. Prepare for the fight. You must be prepared in two ways:

You must prepare mentally to be asked to do more with less, to have more traction than your peers, and to hear more “no’s.” You need a plan to stay motivated and to keep you in the fight. Find your support system, eat better, find mindfulness practices, and secure your personal finances. You have to prepare for this fight.

It’s important to understand the dynamics of your industry, and then decide if you’re going to work within it, leave it or break it. Then, build your approach accordingly. Leaving may look like not raising venture funding. Breaking it might be finding non-dilutive sources. You have to know what is most feasible for you.

The “Meet the Athlete” docuseries is a unique blend of sports and entrepreneurship. How did this collaboration with Ron “Boss” Everline and Hartbeat Ventures come about, and what are your goals for this project?

Boss and I have been working on a number of content verticals via his production company Fort Knox and his health and wellness entity Just Train. Meet the Athlete is unique in that it is the first time we’ve been able to create content at the intersection of Boss working as a trainer and as an investor. He is always working with athletes to define their investment goals and strategies post-sport. In order to ensure we could pull off this concept, we needed to lean heavily on our ability to build a deal flow pipeline, select attractive companies, add value to the chosen companies via interaction with athletes, and add value to the athletes via quality deal flow. 

Essentially, it needed to be a win, win, win for all parties. Open Venture Capital and Hartbeat Ventures serve as arbiters for quality deal flow and quality interactions with the athletes. Over time,  we believe this platform will grow to be a trusted source for athletes to engage with founders directly, with our vetted sponsors and partners, and with our venture funds based on each athlete’s investment goals.

How do you envision the series impacting both the athletes involved and the startups they choose to invest in?

We like to think of this as a mutual advisory opportunity. We’re essentially taking the model that works for us (Boss advises Open Venture Capital and I advise Just Train) and we’re expanding it. Athletes don’t want to be seen as a blank check or just a part of a marketing strategy. They are often looking for opportunities to learn or deepen their understanding of a market or an industry. We will structure each athlete/founder match to support both parties.

Can you share any behind-the-scenes insights or moments from the docuseries that highlight the connection between athletes and entrepreneurship?

We just held our first athlete dinner with Matt Barnes and 8 entrepreneurs. We filmed their pitches, but the real magic happens over dinner (which is not filmed). This is where we get to have conversations with the founders about friction points in their growth, and potential connections that an athlete can make and where Boss, Matt, and I were all able to share cautionary tales. It’s in that less formal setting, over a meal, with no cameras, that the most valuable connections are made.

What changes do you think are still needed in the venture capital industry to truly support diversity and inclusion?

Diversity has historically been calculated as an additional risk in an underwriting process. This is true across all capital markets. Consider mortgage rate disparities and higher rejection rates for small business borrowers based on race. Across debt and equity, we need guidelines that appropriately consider diversity without it being considered a general liability. 

In venture, the best way to reduce the perceived risk is to have more success stories. I am encouraged by the many ways I have seen my peers across the venture ecosystem approach engineering their success. Some are focused on backing more diverse early-stage founders, others are focused on writing checks to diverse founders at the growth stage, where funding and competitive valuations can be a challenge for under-represented founders. At Open Venture Capital, we are focused on building a more diverse cap table via the investors in our fund, thereby making this asset class more accessible and building a roster of expertise and diverse perspectives that we can make available to our founders.

As someone who wears many hats—investor, advisor, speaker—how do you balance your roles, and what motivates you to keep pushing for change?

My roles work together to help me build eminence, strengthen my network in Venture and across the sports, health, and wellness industries, and increase our deal flow pipeline for the fund. My approach is unique and blends my capacity as an operator and an investor to build new concepts and leverage those for investing purposes.

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